SECRETARY OF STATE Vs. DWARKA PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application to revise a judgment of the Court of Small Causes at Aligarh by which the respondent's suit for damages was decreed against the Secretary of State as represented by the Agent of the East Indian Railway.

(2.) The respondent's case is that his dhobi lived near the railway line. On the morning of the 27 of May 1925, two trains were running a race on the railway lines that ran by the dhobi's house. One of the trains was going to Delhi and the other to Bareilly and for a short distance the two trains ran parallel to each other. A spark from one of the engines burnt the thatched hut of the dhobi and along with the hut the plaintiff's clothes that had been given to the dhobi for being washed.

(3.) The Court below found that the two drivers were driving the two trains at a furious speed and the spark which caused the fire came out of one of the engines. It also found that no precaution had been taken to protect the flying of sparks from the engine.